Australian-born (Ballarat) and educated in France, the artist studied art in Melbourne and at Julian's Academie, Paris where he stayed for fourteen months in 1893.

According to James MacDonald who wrote a book about Davies, he spent eight months in 1901 working with the artist who was then living at Lelant, 'a leafy little village at the extreme head of St Ives Bay and across the narrow strip of water from the little town of Hayle. At this point the land rises abruptly from the sea, and for as far as St Ives itself (to which it sweeps without a break except for Carbis Bay) is varied and picturesque.' 

While in St Ives, Davies served on the Hanging Committee for Lanham's Gallery, and exhibited with the Cornish artists at the Whitechapel Exhibition in London [Exhibition catalogue repr in Hardie (2009)].